Chapter 5 THE TRUTH ABOUT BLOODLINES

Ava's skin still tingled from the heat of the shift. She hadn't fully transformed, but something had cracked open inside her a door she couldn't close anymore.

She didn't know whether to be terrified or thrilled.

The forest around her was quiet now, but not calm. It was a silence laced with tension like the trees were holding their breath.

Elias stood nearby, arms crossed, watching her like a hawk. Knox stayed closer, his presence grounding her, like a silent reassurance that she hadn't lost herself completely.

"You did better than I expected," Elias finally said.

Ava shot him a look. "You choked me."

"You survived."

She shook her head, exhaling hard. "You're a real piece of work, you know that?"

A shadow of a grin tugged at his mouth, but he said nothing more.

Knox stepped forward, brushing a leaf from her hair. "Are you okay?"

Ava hesitated. Then nodded. "Yeah. I think so." She paused. "No. I don't know. Everything feels... different now."

"You're waking up," Elias said. "Piece by piece."

Ava met his gaze. "Then it's time you stop talking in riddles and start giving me answers."

Elias's eyes flicked to Knox, then back to her. "You want the truth?"

"More than anything."

He nodded once, then turned, motioning for her to follow. "Then come with me. There's something you need to see."

They walked deeper into the forest, away from the clearing and the others. Ava's mind buzzed with a hundred questions, but she held them back. She could feel it Elias was finally ready to tell her something real.

After a short hike, they reached a ridge overlooking a valley cloaked in mist. Nestled at the base of it was a ruined stone structure overgrown with ivy, its walls cracked and worn by time.

Ava frowned. "What is this place?"

Elias stepped closer to the edge. "Your father's sanctuary."

Ava blinked. "My father?"

"He built this place to protect his bloodline. Yours."

Her throat tightened. She barely remembered her father. Just flashes. A deep laugh. The scent of cedar. A strong hand lifting her up when she fell.

"You knew him?"

Elias's face darkened. "Everyone knew him. He was the last true Alpha of our kind. Until he was betrayed."

Ava swallowed. "Betrayed by who?"

Elias didn't answer. Instead, he pointed toward the ruins. "Come."

Inside the sanctuary, the air felt thicker. Colder. Like the stones remembered pain.

They descended a stairwell into a chamber lit by slivers of moonlight. At the center stood a large stone slab. Carved into it was a symbol a full moon flanked by two wolves.

Elias ran his fingers over it. "This is the sigil of the Moonborne line. Your line."

Ava stepped closer. The symbol hummed beneath her skin like it recognized her.

"There's a prophecy," Elias said. "One that speaks of a child born under a blood moon. A child who would carry the strength of the Alphas... and something more."

Ava's pulse quickened.

"She would be hunted. Feared. But if she survived... she'd rise to lead the fractured packs. She'd become the Moonborne Alpha."

Ava's mouth went dry. "You think that's me?"

Elias didn't flinch. "I know it is."

Her heart thudded painfully. "Then why has no one told me any of this until now?"

"Because," came Knox's voice behind her, "everyone who knew... died trying to keep it secret."

Ava turned to him, eyes wide.

Knox's expression was grim. "Your father included."

Silence filled the chamber.

Ava looked back at the stone slab, the weight of it all settling on her shoulders like a shroud.

A prophecy. A bloodline. A destiny she never asked for.

Her voice was barely a whisper. "So what now?"

Elias looked at her, his gaze steady. "Now, you decide. You can run from this. Pretend it's not real. Or..."

"Or?"

"Or you rise. And take back what's yours."

Ava stared at the Moonborne sigil, something deep inside her stirring.

She didn't feel ready.

But maybe that didn't matter anymore.

Because the hunt was only beginning

And she was done being prey.

Ava didn't move for a long moment. The chamber felt alive every breath echoing, every heartbeat pounding against stone and shadow.

The Moonborne sigil stared back at her, carved deep and ancient, a mark left behind by someone who believed she would find it.

Her father.

"I thought he was dead," she said quietly.

Elias didn't answer right away. When he did, his voice was low. "So did we. But bodies don't lie. And there was no body."

Ava looked at Knox, who was now leaning against a cracked pillar, arms crossed but tense.

"You said he died keeping the secret," she said to him. "But now you think...?"

Knox nodded once. "If the Shadowborn are still hunting you, if this prophecy's real... there's a chance he's alive. Or was. Long enough to set this all in motion."

Ava's breath caught. Alive.

And he left her?

Or was taken?

Her fists clenched. Every answer opened up ten more questions.

Elias moved to a broken shelf built into the stone wall. He brushed aside dust and vines until he revealed an old leather-bound journal.

He offered it to her.

Ava hesitated, then took it.

The cover was cracked and worn. Faint lettering was burned into the leather: Caius Valen.

Her father's name.

Ava opened it slowly, the pages filled with jagged script. Notes. Maps. Symbols. Some of the handwriting was smudged, like it had been written in a rush. Others looked like pieces of ritual or prophecy.

Near the front, scrawled in ink darker than the rest, was a single line:

If she's reading this, the Moon has chosen. Protect her. At any cost.

Ava's throat tightened. Her father knew. He left this for her.

She flipped through more pages, catching fragments: Bloodline sealed. Betrayer among us. Shadowborn rising.

And one symbol repeated over and over.

A mark three intersecting crescent moons forming a triangle.

She touched it.

It burned.

Just for a second. Like a spark of recognition.

Ava jerked her hand back.

"What is that symbol?" she asked, showing it to Elias.

He leaned in, studying it. "The old mark of the Moonborne heir. It's said to only respond to true blood. The fact that it reacted..."

Knox straightened. "Confirms it."

Ava's pulse roared in her ears.

"So what? You want me to lead some war I didn't ask for? Claim a legacy I didn't even know existed?"

"No," Elias said. "I want you to understand what you are before others decide for you."

"And the Shadowborn?" she asked. "Why do they want me?"

"They want to control what you are," Knox answered darkly. "Or kill you before you become strong enough to stop them."

Elias stepped back toward the slab. "You were never meant to be found, Ava. Your existence was hidden to protect you. But something changed. The prophecy's in motion now, whether we like it or not."

Ava looked down at the journal again.

Pages of secrets. Of warnings. Of power.

Everything about her life her rage, her instincts, her isolation it all pointed here.

To this.

To her.

She wasn't just some lost girl anymore.

She was a threat.

A weapon.

A legacy reborn.

She closed the journal, the finality of the sound echoing through the chamber.

"Then let them come," she said. "Because I'm done hiding."